SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The thing about looking back on the season is that you can’t. Nobody can. Not here, not in Norman, not in Boise and not anywhere else, because there’s just no getting past Monday night.
Upon further review, it was not two but three consecutive trick plays Boise State ran, the last a Statue of Liberty, preceded by a direct snap to Vinny Perretta, who threw to the end zone, converting a two-point conversion after a 50-yard hook-and-lateral Boise State pulled off facing fourth-and-18.
Upon further review, there has never been a college football finish with anything close to the thrills and turns provided by Oklahoma and Boise State on New Year’s Day night at Phoenix University Stadium.
Upon further review, words still can’t describe what happened, though Pat Forde, of ESPN.com, has to have taken the very best whack, calling it the coming together of America’s two greatest female icons when “Boise State introduced Cinderella to Lady Liberty.”
Hard to top that.
Upon further review, it remains just about impossible to go back in time and evaluate what has to have been one of the Sooners’ most endearing regular seasons in recent memory.
Because when OU lost Rhett Bomar the day before practice began, who ever thought a Big 12 championship might be in the works?
Of course, it’s hard to appreciate it when the guy who replaced him, who rallied OU on and off the field, who deserves every accolade ever thrown his way, played the first three quarters on the BCS stage like it was opening day last season and TCU on the other side of the ball.
And then, it was nothing short of a triumph, how the Sooners only got better throughout the season, even accelerating the process after the best running back in the college game fell to a broken collarbone.
But it’s hard to give it much thought when the offensive line that blocked so well early for Adrian Peterson and later for Allen Patrick was dominated in the trenches by the runts of Boise State.
Still, objectively, who can deny the historic accomplishment of OU’s fifth-year seniors and the staff of coaches that leads them, having advanced to the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl since arriving on campus?
But how great is it when it’s realized, of the BCS quartet, the only time the Sooners brought anything close to their best was in Pasadena, when Nate Hybl won the MVP after guiding OU past Washington State?
In New Orleans, the juggernaut was grounded by LSU, and in suburban Miami, and again for three quarters in Glendale, Ariz., the Sooners appeared not even ready to play.
Bob Stoops likes to measure success with championships, and at first glance, such a standard appears nothing short of horribly demanding, which is right in line with the expectations of the Sooner Nation.
But after being measured, seasons are also defined by how they’re remembered. And now it’s three of four fantastic seasons that have failed to deliver the warm fuzzies of the offseason. No, it doesn’t cheapen the accomplishment, but it steals much of the pleasure that’s supposed to go along with it.
In my mind, the season still belongs grouped with 2000, when OU defied odds, expectations and conventional wisdom to claim its seventh national championship, because that’s what it did, even with Texas A&M;’s help, to take down another conference title.
But the day after the craziest game in college football history, it’s nothing but a bland observation, because who can think of anything else but the way it all went down Monday night at the Fiesta Bowl.
Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
It's hard to look back at Sooners' great season
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